Reflections on the Symposium – Social Movements

Reflective practice in action with each member of the Symposium Planning Committee presenting their highlight of the symposium. Small group discussions to explore your highlights of the symposium and what was gained from the papers and presentations attended. Followed by a large group open discussion.

Susan Long is a Melbourne based organisational consultant and executive coach. Previously Professor of Creative and Sustainable Organisation at RMIT University, she is now a Professor and Research Lead at the National Institute for Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA) and a coach and consultant in private practice. She is an associate of the University of Melbourne Executive Programs and teaches at INSEAD in Singapore and the University of Divinity in Melbourne where she is involved in a coaching program.

She has consulted to organisational change in the health and justice sectors and coached senior executives across many sectors. She has worked with executives from many different nationalities and from diverse industries, having taught or consulted in the UK, the USA, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, Israel, Thailand and Singapore. She also works as a supervisor and coach for organisational development professionals in Australia and Singapore. She has over 35 years of experience with Group Relations, having been on staff or directed many conferences.

Susan has been in a leadership position in many professional organisations and is an author having published ten books and many articles in books and scholarly journals, is General Editor of the journal Socioanalysis and an Associate Editor with Organisational and Social Dynamics. She is member of the Advisory Board for Mental Health at Work with Comcare and a past member of the Board of the Judicial College of Victoria (2011-2016). Susan is a distinguished member of ISPSO.

Jennifer is the Educational Quality Assurance and Enhancement Lead at NIODA. She is an organisational development consultant and a learning and development practitioner with extensive experience supporting change innovations and curriculum development. Jennifer holds a Masters in Philosophy of Social Innovation (Organisational Analysis & Leadership) through the Grubb School of Organisational Analysis, as well as a Masters of Business (Training and Change Management). Jennifer is a Board member of Annecto, a not-for-profit age and disability support organisation and is a Director of Group Relations Australia.

John is currently a student of the Master of Leadership and Management (Organisational Dynamics) at NIODA and the General Manager of Strategy, Culture & Performance at one of Victoria’s major building companies.

He has worked as a psychotherapist, marriage & family therapist, Clinical Director of Citizens Welfare Service of Victoria, and a socioanalyst/consultant for 20 years, Dean of International House, Univ of Melb. (4 years) and an intercultural consultant & CEO of his own consulting business, “Managing Differences” for 30 years. He has provided CEO/Executive development/ coaching, organisational improvement/change and turnaround programs to some 50 plus organisations internationally and in Australia.

At 69 John is planning to retire into a Phd. and attempt to write a book.

Fiona Martin is a Melbourne based organisational development and learning and development, practitioner. She has held leadership roles that have been responsible for innovation and change in the government, education, emergency management and private enterprise sectors including, RMIT and Swinburne Universities. She has published papers in scholarly journals and is a student of the Master of Leadership and Management (Organisation Dynamics), NIODA.

Cath worked as a prison Chaplain with Women for the past four years, and has recently taken up a role with the University of Divinity coordinating and co-teaching the graduate awards in professional supervision. She did her PhD work in the area of disappointment and the lived experience of lack, and lives in Daylesford with her family and a host of other sentient beings. She loves the earth, growing food and enjoys the capacity we have to see and be seen, hear and be heard and love and be loved.

Over the last several years Thomas has enhanced his extensive professional experience by learning from, and working with, leaders across the executive coaching, group dynamics, and systems psychodynamics fields. A graduate of the NIODA Master of Leadership and Management – Organisation Dynamics, Thomas combines a deep understanding of working in large organisations with a passion for supporting others as they work toward achieving their goals and gaining deeper awareness of their actions and drivers. Highly skilled in creating a safe environment to support participants explore their roles, Thomas manages the balance between empathy and candour allowing participants to feel secure whilst having their assumptions challenged.

Sally is the Executive: Administration Lead and Board Secretary at NIODA and is also a final-year student of the Master of Leadership and Management (Organisation Dynamics) course.
Pursuing her love of creating things she completed a Bachelor of Fashion Design, and then created handmade silk wedding gowns, and diversely a diploma in Ecological agriculture living on a working farm whilst project managing for the local Landcare group. Sally has held board positions including school, community groups and the catchment management authority.
Sally lives and works between unceded Wurundjuri and Wadawurrung Country, northwest of Melbourne.